Reallymoving believes that completed sale prices will rise strongly in June (2.9%) and July (3.8%), based on deals agreed in March and April when the property market surged again following news of the stamp duty holiday extension.
However, it anticipates that the monthly rate of growth will fall to just 0.4% in August.
House prices are substantially higher than a year ago, with annual growth reaching 8.5% in June, 9.8% in July and rising to 11.1% in August.
Conveyancing quote volumes on reallymoving peaked in March at more than double the usual level and remained high in April, but dropped by 10% in May.
Reallymoving captures the purchase price buyers have agreed to pay when they search for conveyancing quotes through the comparison site, typically 12 weeks before they complete.
This enables reallymoving to provide a three-month house price forecast that historically has closely tracked the Land Registry’s Price Paid data, published retrospectively.
Rob Houghton, chief executive of reallymoving, said: “This significant period of growth for the housing market may be showing signs of slowing in pace which will be reflected in completed sale prices in August.
“While demand may be reducing, there’s still a huge volume of activity in the market which is driven predominantly by lifestyle factors as well as tax savings.
“Money is cheap to borrow, workers are enjoying greater freedoms than ever before to live where they choose and with fewer demands on cash savings from holidays and leisure activities, many people remain determined to move and achieve a lifestyle that may previously have been impossible.”
